The lorry chartered by the NGO Aide Médicale et Caritative France-Ukraine (AMCFU) arrived in Lviv in western Ukraine on Saturday 8 April. The convoy was carrying 7 tonnes of health products donated by the Tulipe association and its member pharmaceutical companies. The first deliveries to hospitals will begin this week.
Unloading the lorry carrying Tulipe health products on 8 April in Ukraine (DR – AMCFU)
Since the beginning of January 2023, 89 tonnes of health products donated by Tulipe and its member companies have been transported to Ukraine. In addition to the AMCFU, Action Contre La Faim, The Heart Fund and Motanka have benefited from these donations. ” Tulipe continues to collect health products in line with the weekly needs of hospitals as reported to us by partner NGOs in the field”, explains Alexandre Laridan, the association’s Director of Operations. In the space of four months, the mobilisation of healthcare professionals has practically reached the volume of all donations made over the year 2022 (100 tonnes of medicines over 9 months).
Diana Dols, AMCFU’s Director of Operations, talks about her NGO’s work in Ukraine at the “Tulipe, 40 years of health emergencies around the world” conference in January 2023.
4 million children need humanitarian assistance
This mobilisation is justified by the dramatic situation facing the Ukrainian population more than a year after the Russian invasion. At the start of the conflict, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance was 3 million. Today, it is 18 million (including more than 4 million children) according to the United Nations (UN) Regional Information Centre for Western Europe and UNICEF. Over the months, civilian infrastructure has become a prime target for Russian forces, as demonstrated by the World Health Organisation (WHO): in 2022, nearly 70% of attacks on healthcare establishments worldwide took place in Ukraine. Hospitals and health centres are regularly bombed and sometimes destroyed. It is against this backdrop that Health Minister François Braun will be visiting Ukraine on 14 and 15 April to sign a bilateral cooperation agreement aimed at rebuilding the country’s medical infrastructure. He will also inaugurate a medical centre in Lviv dedicated to reconstructive surgery.
